Father Michael Cleary + Phyllis and Ross Hamilton

I did not know Father Michael Cleary personally but I guessed what was going to happen to Phyllis Hamilton and her son after his death.

Ross Hamilton now says that says that his mother was slowly drinking herself to death as the nation watched her story unfold.
"We kind of became D-list celebrities and everyone wanted a slice. There was huge amounts of sympathy while others called us liars and money-grabbers.

Father Cleary died in December 1993. The book "Secret Love: My Life with Father Michael Cleary" was published in October 1995. Phyllis Hamilton's co-author was Paul Williams, crime correspondent for the Sunday World. Paul Williams is an anti-cleric who went on to slander Nora Wall after her short-lived conviction for rape in June 1999.

Ross Hamilton and his mother lost all of Father Cleary's friends as a result of the scandal. They gained nothing in return. Anti-clerical journalists regarded them as "D-list celebrities" useful for trumpeting their own hatred of the Catholic Church, but not to be taken seriously as human beings in their own right.

Ross Hamilton says that his mother was "naive" but I suspect she was well able to understand what was happening. No wonder she "pined away to death for my dad as a direct result of the whole furore."

Ross Hamilton himself seems to be going in the same direction - giving media interviews and participating in "documentaries" that defame Father Cleary, while at the same time Ross proclaims that he has "forgiven" him!